Rise against the Machine
by MidnightFenrir
Summary: "What did I just get myself into?" Aetos Wilder asks himself this question as he ends up in the League of Legend universe. But he did not end up in the Runeterra that he knows about. No, he finds himself in a futuristic Runeterra, where humanity is at war against Viktor and his battlecast creations. A war which is quickly turning into a fight for survival. OC X Kayle.


**Hello everybody! This is MidnightFenrir speaking and I'm presenting you this new fanfic of mine, fresh from the oven, called "Rise against the Machine".**

**This is NOT a slef-insert, though I am writing at the 1st person view.**

**With that, I present to you the first chapter of this fanfic! Enjoy!**

"Come on!" -talking-

'Hum... Interesting' -thinking-

"**We are Geth" -Machine speaking-**

**'Hotel' -signs and such-**

* * *

><p>"GOD DAMNIT!"<p>

I cringed at the deafening cry that rang through my headphones. How John managed to be so loud even though I had lowered the sound of the speakers truly baffled me.

"Man, you seriously HAVE to stop raging so much. I know we're loosing this game, but getting angry over it won't change anything. Besides, it's just that: a game." I said as I clicked furiously, trying to get my champion to safety as I heard yet another set of curses.

League of Legends truly wasn't a relaxing game.

"Why is it that we ALWAYS end up with noobs on our team and we're ALWAYS put against tryhards?! I mean, COME ON! How many times in a row did we get a Zed against us?!"

"I think that's the seventh time, at least." I answered.

"EXACTLY MY POINT! I'm getting fed up with those assholes that can't do shit if they don't play an OP champ!" John exclaimed. "And as if it wasn't enough, we managed to end up with a support Teemo! A FUCKING SUPPORT TEEMO! How can we even-"

***An ally has been slain.***

"MOTHER FU-"

I muted my gaming partner with a heavy sigh and shook my head before looking at the screen, where I could the see the in-game chat flaming hard. It was one of those days I wished that LoL wasn't such a competitive game. Glancing at the left side of the screen, I saw that I was, once again, the last one alive on my team against our five opponents.

I looked down at Kayle, my champion. I had since long bought the Aether Wings skin and always used it when I played with her. The Judicator truly looked glorious in her futuristic attire.

I smiled.

"Let's give them hell, girl. No way we're going down without a fight." I said to the fictional character as if she could hear me. I directed her at the front our nexus, waiting for our enemies.

'Still, I have to agree with John. I'm getting fed up being put against Zed over and over again. And even if I dominate him, the bastard always find a way to get feed sooner or later.' I thought and a "tsk" escaped my lips.

"Only one chance at this." I muttered as I watched the enemy top -the yordle Gnar- and jungler -Piltover's Enforcer Vi- rushing into our base. Luckily for me, our inhibitors had respawned.

'That should buy me a few seconds' I thought as I moved Kayle straight at the two champions. 'Let's do this.'

I activated Righteous Fury (E) and Kayle's word became engulfed in blue light, the hilt shining with the violet glow of the Lych Bane. As I came into range, I activated the DeathFire Grasp, tearing 15% of Gnar's health bar, and followed by a couple of auto-attacks, reducing him at mid-life. Before I could continue, however, he flashed away, leaving me to deal with Vi. The enforcer charged at me with her Vault Breaker (Q) and I quickly made Kayle step away before sending a Reckoning (Q) at her. Probing the Lych Bane once more, I killed Vi in a matter of seconds.

Exhaling slowly, I glanced at the mini-map, seeing that Zed, Thresh and Caitlyn were making quick work of the bot-lane's inhibitor. Activating the Divine Blessing (W), I healed Kayle and sped after them.

'Gnar, won't be able to come back in time, so it's me versus the three of them. I must take down that thrice damned ninja first.'

Seemingly responding to my challenge, my foes charged at me and I noticed Zed activating his Youmu's Ghostblade. Before I could even start to hack down his hps, he vanished before reappearing for a cross attack with two shadow clones. Knowing what would happen if I stayed in the same place as the clones, I flashed to the side and re-activated Righteous Fury before hacking Zed's health bar away, tearing 3/4th of his hps. A split second later, I pressed another key and Kayle turned into a golden statue as Zed's Death Mark (R) activated and Thresh's Death Sentence (Q) went right through my champion.

Once the Zonhya's Hourglass' effect ended, I pressed the R key and the glow of Intervention appeared around Kayle, making her invulnerable for three seconds.

'More than enough to deal with that annoying ninja!' I thought as I put Zed six feet under, leaving Thresh, Caitlyn and a fast approaching Gnar to deal with. I activated Divine Blessing once more and quickly killed Piltover's Sheriff in a few auto-attacks before shifting my attention to Gnar, who had transformed into his Mega-Form.

'Bad mistake.' Maneuvering around him, I assaulted him with a barrage of attacks empowered by Righteous Fury, finishing the job I had begun in a matter of seconds.

Realizing that Thresh had chose to flee while I was deeling with Gnar, I let out a satisfied sigh. I had managed to win against the entire enemy team by myself. Quite a good play to pull.

Deciding to add insult to the injury, I quickly typed a short message in the chat for our opponents as I agreed to surrender.

**'Easy'**

I felt a smug grin plaster itself on my face as I watched our Nexus blow up, satisfied with myself. Not caring for the result screen, I hit the home button and went into the shop section of the launcher. I was greeted by the promotional offer on battlecast Skarner and Kog'Maw.

Looking at those skins and Kayle's Aether Wing skin made me think back to the foggy background behind their creation. Oddly, it reminded me of another game: Mass Effect. With basically futuristic universe with heroes fighting against machines that wants to destroy all organic life, the back story of the battlecast skins pretty much came from games and stories such as Mass Effect.

'Thinking about it now, battlecast Vel'Koz is pretty much a Reaper from ME, with the red lasers and tentacles.' I thought as I stood up from my chair and stretched my arms. With a yawn, I looked at my clock, who stared back at me with its double zeros and a forty-seven.

'I should go to bed already... A quick glass of milk before and then, I'll go to sleep.'

With that in mind, I made my way out of my bedroom, down the stairs and into the kitchen. Passing by immobile person near one of the shelves, I opened the fridge and took the bottle of milk inside the door.

I froze, the neck of the bottle at my lips.

'Wait a minute...'

Slowly, I turned my head to the right, gazing straight at the masked figure that was looking at me with eyes wide open, like a deer in the headlights.

I blinked once, twice to make sure I wasn't dreaming.

…

I shook my head slightly. "You've got to be kidding me."

No sooner had the words left my mouth that the thief lunged at me, something that I wasn't expecting, and it was only by pure reflex that I swung my bottle at him, sending at least a glass worth of milk at his face. A split second later, he collided with me and threw the both of us to the ground.

The few years of martial training inside me kicked in and I put my left hand behind my head to shield it from the impact as I hit the ground. Groaning, I kicked my assailant away and stood up before dropping into a classic Baji-Quan stance, knees bend with my hands in front of me at the ready. Seeing the man stand up, I took a deep breath.

"Alright asshole! I'm giving you three seconds to get the hell out of my house! Else, I'm going to make you leave myself!" I snarled at him.

For a second, the guy seemed to hesitate before he charged at me, swinging his right fist at my face. He was promptly met by a knee to the stomach as I caught his wrist with my left hand. Taking advantage of his obvious shock and pain, I quickly followed up by hitting him with my right elbow, sending him to the ground once more.

Before he could even think of standing up, I rolled him on his stomach and locked his right arm behind his back as I put one of my left knee between his shoulders. Having neutralized my foe, I took another long breath.

"Alright~" I said in a sing-song tone. "Looks like we're gonna have to do this the hard way~"

The man grunted before letting out a muffled "Fuck you!"

"Love you too, pal. Now why don't you tell me how you got in there? I'm positive I locked the door and closed the shutters."

"Go fuck yourself." was the answer I got.

I tsk-ed, snapping back into my serious persona. "Look pal, we can either make it quick and painless or long and painful: I can break each of your limbs before calling the cops or you can tell me how you managed to enter my house and I'll just throw you outside. Make your pick."

The thug scoffed. "You don't have the balls to do it."

My frown deepened slightly at that. "Suit yourself." I casually said as I dislocated his shoulder with a loud crack.

The man's eyes widened under his hood before he howled in pain. "Argh! You son of a bitch!"

Locking his left arm, I decided to play with him a little. "What was that? Did I correctly hear you say 'please break my left arm'?"

That shut him up immediately and he stopped squirming.

"That's what I thought." I nodded. "So, I'll ask again: how did you get in?"

For a moment, he stayed silent and I could hear the roaring of thunder outside. 'When did the weather turn bad?'

"...key." the thief muttered.

"What?"

"I used a key, okay?! There was that guy on that forum that said he wanted someone to raid and ransack this place! He said he even had the perfect time for it and the means to go in and out without trouble!" he ranted.

I frowned. "So let me get this straight: someone on a forum said you could raid this place specifically and even gave you a key of my front door to get in? You know that sounds like a load of bullshit, right?" I replied.

"I swear to God, man! That's the truth, honest! Guy said he would even pay us if we did the job well! Five hundred bucks cash!"

This time, my eyes widened in shock. 'Five hundred in cash for raiding my home?! What the fuck?!"

"...I must admit that's not what I was expecting." I muttered before sighing. "Does said guy have a name?"

"Dunno, man. There was only his speudo on the forum."

"Which would be?"

"...would ya believe me if I said 0123456789?" he answered sheepishly.

I looked at him with a blank face for a second before I shook my head. "I can believe that." I replied, knowing full well that people could take the simplest pseudos on the internet.

"Oh. Okay. So... what now?" the thief asked in an apprehensive tone.

I thought about how to deal with him for a few seconds before answering. "Now I'm going to get you out of my house, you'll give me that key and then we won't see each other again." I said as I make him stand up, still locking his arm.

We made our way to the front door, which indeed wasn't locked anymore, and outside. Once we were a few steps away from the door, I stopped.

"Where's the key?" I asked.

"Right pocket of my jacket." came the answer.

I swiftly slided my right hand into said pocket and took out a perfect copy of my house's key from it. Nodding, I put the key into my own pocket before kicking the man away.

"Consider yourself lucky that I don't go back on my word, pal. Now get out of here. And if I see you again, I WILL break more than one arm, that's a promise." I said in a cold voice as I watched him get up.

"Don't worry man, you won't see me anymore... since you'll be dead."

I raised an eyebrow at the words but before I could reply, I heard the unmistakable sound of a gun being armed behind me.

I felt the hair on my neck stand up. 'What the- How? When did-' And then, it dawned on me.

"...us. You said 'us' earlier, but I didn't pay attention to it." I said bitterly.

The man in front of me laughed. "Your funeral, man."

Slowly, I turned around to see the second thief pointing a M911 at me. Instantly, I knew that nothing I could do would prevent him from shooting me. There wasn't enough distance to properly dodge the bullet, and yet there was too much to try to disarm him.

'I'm going to die.' I realized as I looked at the crazy smile the guy was wearing underneath his hood.

Strangely enough, I felt calm. My life wasn't flashing before my eyes, the world didn't seem to slow down, nothing. The skies were raging above us and I could do nothing but stare at the barrel of the weapon aimed at me before uttering one last word.

"Fuck."

Lightning flashed and I heard the roar of thunder. 'Or was it the sound of the gun firing?' I idly wondered for a second.

And then, everything turned white.

* * *

><p>I groaned in pain as I regained consciousness. I could feel myself laying on the ground and I could hear a myriad of distorted sounds all around me. But worst of all was the pain I was in. It felt as if my body was on fire all over.<p>

'What happened?' I groggily thought. 'What's going on?'

Tentatively, my foggy brain started to connect dots: I was in pain, which meant I was alive unless I had ended up in hell without knowing; and I was wounded somewhere, which meant I could die any second or was being tortured by the purgatory devils.

I groaned weakly as I tried to move, but the pain was just too much and I gave up that idea pretty quickly. Instead, I tried to focus on the sounds around me. They were distorted, as if I was underwater, so I couldn't really make anything out of them. Then, they started to fade until I was left in utter silence.

'Is that it? Am I dead now?' I thought before I heard another noise. And it was getting louder and clearer, so I guessed its source was approaching me. It was then that I recognized it: it was the sound of footsteps, and they were closing on me. The person stopped -right beside me, it seemed- and I tried to open my eyes.

"Wow... like... here... alive." I heard someone say as I slowly lifted my eyelids. My vision was blurry and I couldn't make anything out of the vague shapes I could see. "Looks... quite... on you." the voice continued. I could see its owner's figure right above me.

"Don't... there!.. he... attention!" a second voice joined in.

"Afraid... last... wounds... fatal... most likely." the first voice replied in what I could guess was a grim tone.

"We... know... try!" the other voice countered vehemently.

"Then... better hurry... don't know... going to last." the first person -a man, I could now tell- said. "Besides... afford... stay... longer."

"Hang in... be fine." the second person -a woman- said to me.

I felt something penetrate my body and I passed out again.

* * *

><p>When I opened my eyes again, I was greeted by a white ceiling and the constant bipping of a heart monitor. 'An hospital?' I deducedasked myself as I slowly looked around.

I was laying in a bed inside a wide white room. There was several closets and shelves around, along with several empty beds and other objects that I didn't recognize. I could see, however, that it was some cutting-edge technology.

Slowly, I raised my upper body from the bed and rubbed my eyes with my right hand.

'What happened? The last thing I remember, I-' my eyes snapped open as the masked face of the thief appeared in my mind, along with his crazy smile as he shot me. My hand flew to my forehead, where I could find no hole, scar or anything that could prove I had been shot.

'How am I still alive?' I wondered as I looked at my hand like it could give me the answer.

"It would seem that our guest is finally awake."

My head snapped up at the unknown, yet slightly familiar, voice. Beside a now open door stood a man with combed raven hair that looked in his early thirties. He was, for lack of a better word, radiating confidence and authority but there was nothing arrogant or threatening in his attitude. He was dressed in what I could only describe as military fatigues -a dark yellow shirt and brown pants-.

I frowned slightly. "Who are you?" I asked in a rather inquisitive tone.

The man raised an eyebrow. "So you don't know who I am." he stated before walking toward me. "Interesting. Either you are a superb actor, or a wanderer. I'm surprised there would be more survivors outside."

My frown deepened. ' "Survivors"? What does he mean?' "What are you-"

He raised a hand to stop me from going further. "Apologies, friend, but right now we're the one asking questions." he cut me off.

My frown deepened even more. "'We'?"

As if on cue, the door opened once again to reveal a purple skinned woman with white hair, followed by a man who I could only describe as some sort of cybernetic ninja. The two stopped at the feet of my bed and gazed at me. The woman's golden eyes were kind, warm, while the man's were a cold piercing violet.

This time, I raised an eyebrow before turning to the first man. "What's this? An interrogation?" I asked him and he chuckled sheepishly.

"That's not how I would formulate it but... I suppose you could say that. Don't worry though, we won't hurt you." he replied.

I snorted. "I don't even know where I am in the first place." I said before palming my face with a sigh. "Whatever... ask away, so that we can be done with it."

My two interrogators nodded and the woman sat down on the chair beside my bed as she took out a... a... 'Is that supposed to be a notepad?' I asked myself as I eyed the strange object in her hands. Then, she pushed some button and a digital screen appeared, making my eyes widen.

I had no time to ponder as she began to ask questions. "What is your name?"

Still baffled by the device in her hand, I took a few seconds to answer. "Aetos A. Wilder."

"Where are you from?"

"Olympia, USA. Tough I used to live in France before."

The two looked at each other for a second before turning their gazes back to me. "What is your occupation?"

My eyebrow twitched. 'What's this? Twenty questions?' "Well, I'm an unemployed student in literature."

Again, the two shared a look for a brief moment. "How old are you and when were you born?"

'Now they're just screwing around with me.' "I'm twenty-three and was born on July twenty-three of 1991."

Once more, they looked at each other. "What is the last thins you remember?"

'Finally a question that makes sense!' I shouted in my mind. "I was standing outside my house. There was a thunderstorm. And a thug was pointing a gun at me. I heard a roar -was it the thunder's or the gun's, I don't know- and then, nothing. I saw white." I replied, the scene still fresh in my mind.

'What DID happen at that moment?' I asked myself once again.

The woman nodded and stood up. "Thank you for your time and cooperation." she said before strolling back to where the first man was standing. I raised my eyes to look at the ninja and his piercing gaze returned my stare for a few seconds before he nodded and went to join the two others. The three of them then exited the room, leaving to think about what had just happened.

'What was all this about anyway? I have a bad feeling...'

* * *

><p>My three interrogators came back after what felt like an eternity. The man that had spoken to me had a serious look plastered on his face in contrast to his earlier friendly smile as he sat down in front of me.<p>

"I won't lie to you, stranger. You case is quite... unique, for lack of a better term. We know you told us the truth about you and your origins, but that complicate things even more than if you had been lying." he said.

I raised an eyebrow. "Does that mean my presence here is problematic to you?"

He shook his head. "Not exactly. It's just that we are facing dark times and we've never had a case such as yours before. Because of that, people are debating on what to do with you." he replied. "And it varies from execution to welcoming you, with exile in between."

My eyes widened at that. 'What the hell?!' "I... understand what you're saying... but I do not see how I am cause for such disturbances." I said in confusion.

The man sighed. "Yes, that is understandable. And it is my responsibility to see this to the end. You said you don't know where you are?"

I shook my head. "Not a clue."

He nodded. "Again, that's to be expected. So I'll be blunt and see where this goes. You are currently at the Institute of War, in the land of Valoran." he said.

My eyes widened the size of plates at those words. 'Wait a god-damn second! "Valoran"? "The Institute of War"?! Is he telling me I'm in freaking RUNETERRA?!'

The man raised an eyebrow at me. "Judging by your reaction, it would seem that those names aren't unknown to you." he stated, seemingly seeing recognition in my eyes. "But how would someone from an Outrealm know about our own world, I'd like to know."

I was simply flabbergasted. I didn't what to say or, for the matter, what to think. I simply looked at the man in front of me like he had just said I was from a different dimension.

'Oh wait, he did.'

What was I supposed to say? That their world was nothing more than a game from where I came from?

'Yeah, like that'd work well. Damn you Murphy.'

I took a deep breath. "Alright..." I slowly said. "So you're telling me... that I'm in a different world?"

He nodded.

"And that this world is Runeterra?"

Another nod.

"...you're serious, aren't you?"

A third nod.

I let myself fall back into the bed, palming my face. "Of all things... this is what happens? Fuck my life..." I muttered to myself before raising my head. "Do you have any idea of how I ended up here?"

This time, he shook his head.

I sighed. "Figures... And I suppose you don't know how or even if I can go back either?"

Another shake.

I stayed silent, waiting for my brain to assimilate all the information. "This sucks." I summed up before looking back at my interlocutor. "And I still don't know who you are."

The man bowed slightly. "Ah, my apologies. I am Jarvan Lightshield, general of our ground forces."

My eyes bulged out again. 'Jarvan?! I've been talking to the King of Demacia this whole time?!'

I looked at him closely. Indeed, I could now see numerous similarities between this man and the game character. 'Then again, he's a real person now.'

Then, I frowned as I realized something. "Wait. You said 'general'? By my knowledge of this... world, you are a king or at least a prince." I said.

Jarvan raised an eyebrow. "Royalty, me? I'm sorry, but there haven't been any king or monarch in at least two millenniums." he replied.

My frown deepened. 'He confirmed to me that this was Runeterra and that his name is Jarvan, yet he says he's not royalty? There must be something I'm missing.' "Demacia, Noxus, Ionia, Bilgewater, Frejlord, Shurima... does any of those names mean anything to you?" I asked.

The general nodded. "I know those names. They were once harbored by different countries. But that was a long time ago, before even our golden age." he answered.

"The League of Legends?" I hesitantly asked.

This time, Jarvan tilted his head to the side. "We call ourselves The League, but I've never heard about a 'League of Legends'." he replied.

I mulled over my thoughts for a moment. 'If this isn't the Runeterra from the game itself, then which Runeterra is it?' "If I may ask, Jarvan, could you tell me the situation of, well, this world?"

The man's expression immediately turned grim. Looking down, he said. "We're fighting a war. A war which is turning into a desperate struggle for survival."

"With each day that passes, the enemy is pushing us back. We're loosing."

I turned to the ninja, who was the one who had spoken. Now that I knew in which 'universe', so to speak, I was, I had a good idea of who this man was.

"I refuse to think that way, Shen! We'll find a way, I know it!" Jarvan snapped at the ninja.

'Nailed it.' I thought as I looked at Shen. 'Those violet eyes and that piercing gaze... that's the Eye of Twilight, alright.'

"You must face the facts, Jarvan. If this war continues like it does now, we will loose." the ninja said before turning around. "And obviously, this young man cannot help us. It might have been better to let him die where he was so that at least he wouldn't have to face what we do." And with that, the Eye of Twilight exited the room, leaving everyone flabbergasted.

The woman then turned to me. "I apologize for Shen's behavior. The past days have been... difficult, especially for him."

I shook my head. "Ah, it's alright. I do not blame him for feeling that way. But he is right in his assumption that I have never faced war and what little knowledge I have probably won't be able to help you." I said with a sad smile before turning back to Jarvan, who was looking down. "If I may ask, general, who -or what- are you fighting against?"

After a few seconds of silence, he answered me. "The bane of all natural and organic life."

I paled at those words, the pieces of the puzzle finally coming together.

'Fuck.'

So this was the futuristic Runeterra. More precisely, the Runeterra in which mankind is fighting against Viktor and his machines. A near post-apocalyptic war between organics and synthetics.

It took me a few seconds to assimilate this before I could talk again. "While I know a few things about what you are fighting against, I'm afraid I don't have anything else that could help you."

Jarvan shook his head. "That's still better than nothing." he said before looking at me seriously. "But do you truly understand the situation you're in? You seem to take things far better than I thought you would."

I gave him a small smile. "Well, there's a war going on, you said it yourself. So I can't just cry and mope over what happened. And I think I'll go crazy if I don't do anything." I said before my smile widened. "Besides, you saved my life, so I'm kind of indebted to you. I'm afraid you'll have to bear with me."

The general laughed. "Welcome aboard then, Aetos!" he said as he presented his open hand to me, which I shook.

"However, I'm afraid to say that I don't really know how to fight. All I have are a few years of martial training, the occasional shooting experience and that's it." I responded with a grimace.

He laughed again. "We'll fix that in due time, don't worry. For now, you should rest. Taking a bullet to the head is no small feat and you're not fully healed yet." he said.

I froze for a second. "What do you mean 'taking a bullet to the head'?"

Jarvan opened his mouth to answer when the woman cut him to it. "When we found you, you were bleeding from a bullet wound to the cranium and suffering from both third degree burns and internal bleeding. Worse, the bullet was still inside you skull. You were lucky we found you when we did, or you would have died in a matter of minutes. You were even more lucky the extraction of the bullet was successful without any side-effects, cellular regeneration can only do so much. There could have been major trauma or damage to your brain. And I'm not even talking about collateral damages to your sight, nerves, ect..."

I was left speechless by the diagnostic of my injuries for a moment before I clapped my hands. "As expected of you, Soraka." I said.

Her eyes widened. "You know my name?"

I smiled. "As I said, I know certain things about this world. I suppose you were the one who oversaw my recovery?"

She nodded. "Indeed, I did oversee your case. I'm not the head of the medics for nothing. However, it wasn't me who operated on you or took care of you. For that, you should thank Shen, Kennen and Akali." she replied.

I blinked. 'The Kinkou assigned to my case? Well, I guess I should be honored.' "What do you mean?" I asked

"Shen is one of best, if not the the best, surgeon. While he's not taking care of the Office of Intelligence, he's helping us at the hospital. Same goes for his companions." answered Soraka.

I simply nodded. 'Guess those surgeon, MD and nurse skin weren't just for fun.'

"Now, general, if you would be so kind as to leave, I must run a few checks on my patient here." the Starchild said.

Jarvan nodded and stood up before presenting me his open hand once more. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Aetos."

I shook his hand. "Same here, Jarvan."

As he walked away and Soraka started to examine me, only one thought ran through my head.

'What did I just get myself into?'

* * *

><p><strong>And done! Of course, that's just the 1st chapter, the prologue, but I'd like to know what you thought of it.<strong>

**So please review!**

**This is MidnightFenrir, author of "Rise against the Machine", signing out.**

**PS: For those following my Fire Emblem story, don't worry, it's not dead. The chapter is just being a b*tch.**


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